Marauders United - Tiger Lily
by believeindreamers
Summary: This is kinda like 'I would trust no one else.' This is from Lily's POV, when she first finds out Remus' little secret, courtesy of our favorite Snape! And no offense meant to Snape fans-I like him to, but I had to do it!


  
"Hey, Moony, catch!" Sirius yelled. Lupin glanced up to see Sirius flying above him on his Silver Arrow broom. He knew what was going to happen a second before it did, and a second too late to do anything to stop it.   
  
Sirius, laughing hysterically, dumped the bucket of ice-cold water he was holding over Remus' head. Moony glared up at him, and Sirius nearly fell off his broom, he was laughing so hard. I, watching their antics from the front steps of Hogwarts, laughed along with Sirius, and Remus just couldn't help himself: he started laughing too.  
  
"Okay, what'd I miss?" James Potter demanded. While Sirius began to explain his prank to James, I quietly slipped away, back into the sometimes-forbidding darkness of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  
  
My name is Lily Evans. I'm one of the popular crowd, I guess: I'm not the one you'd want to ask. I know most of the younger students look up to me, both as a prefect and as the trend-setting leader of my private group of friends. Most girls think of me as a snob, and most of boys spend half their lives asking me out, and the other half hating my guts because I turned them down.  
  
It's not personal, not in the least, but they can't seem to realize that. I'm just incredibly shy, and I'm afraid I'll do something wrong. And when I do, my friends will realize I've been faking them out for the last four years, and I'll be all by myself, just the way I was before I came here.  
  
At home, in my old school, I was constantly picked on. Perhaps I was too smart, perhaps they just had it out for me. All I know is that I was always the target, always the outsider. And when I came to Hogwarts, four years ago, I saw my chance.  
  
For all my friends know, I always acted like the fashion queen they think I am. The first day, I swore I would never become a target in this place the way I was in my old school, and I'm not. But then, I haven't any idea who I am now, either. Not who they think I am, at least.  
  
Yet I find myself wishing to be like James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter. None of them keeps any secrets from the others, and indeed, they have lots of secrets of their own. I have more secrets than I like, but by now there's no way out. No way around them.  
I have not lied, but I have kept the truth a secret.  
  
"Hey, Mudblood, where's your friends?" Severus Snape sneered. I backed away from him, desperate to escape, to get away. He knew my secrets, every single one of the them, simply because he does the exact same thing. Yet he's fallen in love with the roll he plays, and for him, the charade is not a problem.  
  
The deception doesn't bother him the way it does me. He's always been a natural liar. I should know; he used to go to my old school, in the Muggle world. He was the one I feared most.  
  
* * * *  
  
"Remus?" I said timidly. He looked up at me. Of the four Marauders, I've always found him the easiest to talk to, the easiest to confide in. Perhaps because, unlike flirty Sirius and oblivious James, Remus is both aware of my charms, yet at the same time, totally unaffected by them. I admire him for that.  
  
It's Remus that's given me the clearest picture of who I've become, I think. And if push came to shove, he's probably the one I'd run to, instead of the group of girls who call themselves my best friends. He's just so reasonable, and so unbelievably understanding as well, that he has a calming effect on me.  
  
But he has his secrets too; everyone does. But his are bigger than most, I think; he cringes anytime I mention Defense Against the Dark Arts. I wonder why, but at the same time, I don't want to know, really.  
  
"What's the matter, Lil?" Lupin asked, shaking me out of my reverie. His frown made me even more aware that I'm nothing like Severus. He can read me like a book, and he's not the only one, I know.   
  
Snape can hide his emotions better than anyone I've ever seen, and he's got a will of iron. But as I stared into Remus' understanding gray eyes, I thought he'd met his match in Lupin. Remus has an aura of quiet strength about him that is somehow much more impressive than all of Snape's bold recklessness.  
  
"Nothing," I answered quickly. He simply gazed at me for a long moment, and I knew he wasn't buying it. Not that I really expected him to; I can't lie worth a darn and I know it.  
  
"Let's try that again, and how about you give me an honest answer this time?" he suggested. I shook my head.  
  
"Let's not, if you don't mind." I waited for him to turn back to Sirius and James, forgetting about me in a span of a few seconds. But to my surprise, he pulled out a chair and gestured for me to sit down.  
  
"Actually, I have to go, um, go . . ." I stammered, looking around for a suitable excuse.  
  
"You have to go study, right?" he asked, and I nodded.  
  
"Yes, of course."  
  
"Well, as of right now, all you have to do is sit there and listen to us babble. And, if you feel like it, occasionally assist me in putting a damper on Sirius' boundless enthusiasm for all things dangerous."  
  
"Talking about me, Moony?" Sirius Black asked, leaning across the table to better listen to our conversation.  
  
"Who in this castle isn't?" Remus answered smoothly, and Sirius retired chagrined from the field of contest.  
  
"Hey, James, your fellow prefect is here!" Sirius exclaimed, getting back into the swing of things, and James Potter looked over at me.  
  
"Oh, hello. Thanks for staying; Sirius has scared away the majority of the girls who've had crushes on me or Remus."  
  
"A crush?" I said, surprising even myself. "More like I was joining the rest of the castle in wondering how many points you were going to lose tonight."  
  
"Go, Lily!" Sirius whooped as James blushed bright red. Remus gave me a high five, and Peter threw me an admiring glance.  
  
"See, this is much more fun than being upstairs by yourself," Remus said in an undertone, so low that only I could hear. I nodded agreement, and he sat back in his chair, looking very pleased with himself.  
  
I spent the rest of dinner with the Marauders, and by the end of the night, I was wondering how I'd ever been content to simply be a spectator to their antics. God, I wished I was one of them.  
  
* * * *  
  
"Sirius, you almost go me caught with that note of yours!" I scolded. He smiled sheepishly, but couldn't hide the glint of amusement in his eyes. I scowled.  
  
"Honestly! Remus is good at passing notes without getting caught, and James is reasonable about it, but you! You tossed the stupid note like you were throwing a basketball!"  
  
"A what?" he asked, completely bewildered.   
  
"Never mind!" Fuming, I slammed my book shut and headed downstairs to dinner. Sirius dropped to his knees in front of me, and I had to work hard to keep from laughing at his expression.  
  
"Oh, please, oh, please, forgive me, oh all-knowing prefect!" he mock-pleaded. Remus let out a snort of laughter, and James and I quickly joined him, until even Sirius had to laugh. James pulled Sirius to his feet, and the four of us headed down to the Great Hall. Peter was in the library doing make-up work, and dinner was, for the most part, remarkably peaceful. That is, until Severus came over to us.  
  
"Hello, Mudblood," he sneered at me, and all three boys were instantly on their feet and ready for a fight, right under the teachers' noses, if need be.  
  
"Ordinarily," I said airily, "that might bother me. But really Severus, you're only half-blood. You're one to talk, aren't you?"  
  
"Well, at least I'm still human," he snarled. The remark puzzled me for a moment, and I glanced over at my friends. Their reaction shocked me. All three had gone pale, and Sirius looked ready to kill. He reached for his wand, heedless of the teachers watching his every move, but James seized his hand.  
  
"Don't," he hissed. "A fight is exactly what he wants, which is all the more reason not to give it to him."  
  
"But Remus . . God, James, look at him." Following James' gaze, I was shocked by what I saw in Lupin's eyes. There was an almost inhuman terror in his gray eyes, but before anyone could say a word, he bolted, running for the common room.  
  
After that, three things happened very quickly.  
  
Sirius punched Snape in the face, sending reeling into the table. Recklessly, he pounced on him, hitting him hard enough to cause serious damage. Not that I cared.  
  
James pushed through the crowd to head straight for Dumbledore. He was talking too fast and too softly for me to understand his words, but apparently Dumbledore understood quite well, because he rose swiftly from his seat. The head of Slytherin House rose as well, but Dumbledore glared at him and he sat back down.  
  
The teachers sat and watched the fight in mute horror, all of them looking to Dumbledore for guidance. But Dumbledore did nothing, just stood there, watching impassively as Sirius did his best to send Snape to the hospital wing.  
  
I started to stay, but Sirius obviously didn't need my help, and I remembered the look on Remus' face with shocking clarity. He needed me, and without a second thought, I ran for the common room.   
  
"Centaur," I panted, and the portrait swung open. Cautiously I stepped inside. Remus was sitting on the couch, and when he looked up at me, his eyes glistened with tears.  
  
"Remus!" I yelped. I'd never seen Remus cry, nor had Sirius or James, to my knowledge. He was always so strong, so brave, that I couldn't imagine that something Snape had said could put him in this state.  
  
"Lil?" he whispered, and his voice wavered a little. I sat down on the couch beside him, still not quite sure what the problem was, nor how I could fix it.  
  
"Remus, why'd what Snape said have such an effect on you?" He didn't answer, and as I remembered the peculiar wording of Snape's accusation, I couldn't stop myself from asking, "What are you?"  
  
"A werewolf."  
  
"What?" I gasped. It wasn't that I was particularly surprised: I'd gone over several possible reasons for Remus' prolonged absences, and this had been one of them. It was simply the way he said it, without emotion, as though he'd been forced to say it a million times before, but, all the same, still hated it just as much as he had the first time.  
  
"You heard right," he said bitterly. When I didn't respond, he continued, this time in a half hopeful, half condescending tone.  
  
"What, are you just too petrified to move? I assure you, I won't have teeth and claws until next Thursday."   
  
"The calendars . . did James and Sirius help you?" I asked, referring to the calendars in the boys' dormitory and the common room. Every full moon for the next three years was marked with a brilliant silver moon symbol.  
  
"Yes. They learned the charms specially for that . . . they did it the week after they found out."  
  
"When?"  
  
"Halfway through our first year."   
  
"Why didn't you tell me?" He hesitated, but I said it for him. "Because you don't know me well enough to trust me with something this big. But tell the truth: would you have told me, eventually?"   
  
"Yes," he answered instantly. "Of course, you can't be expected to trust the word of a werewolf."  
  
"I can't? Really, I thought I could. A pity, you understand: I've never had as much fun in my whole life as I've had with the Marauders this last week."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" he asked.  
  
"My gosh, boys are just so outright stupid!" I exclaimed. "This is about as simply as I can put it: I. Don't. Care."  
  
"You mean it? You're okay with . . you know."  
  
"Sure, Moony. No problem. Besides, I bet you made a really cute puppy." He mock-snarled at me, and I grinned.  
  
"See, that's exactly what I meant. Now, how 'bout we go back downstairs and show that stupid Snape who's boss?"  
  
"All right," he said bravely, squaring his shoulders. I led the way back downstairs to the Great Hall. James and Sirius, along with Dumbledore, were waiting for us.  
  
"Mr. Lupin," Dumbledore began, "does she . . ?"  
  
"Yes, sir," Remus answered. "She knows, and she's okay with it."   
  
"So, now you're in on wolfie's secret too," Severus said, with his usual smirk. "He's fooled you, too?"  
  
"Fool? The only fool I see is you," I snapped, and he glared at me.  
  
"Well, when wolfie-boy winds up loose in the school, I'm gonna laugh when somebody gets the bright idea to call a werewolf hunter." He didn't have a chance to look surprised before I hit him.  
  
I didn't slap him; that would've been a waste of time. I punched him. My fist connected with his jaw with admirable force, and Snape, already battered from his beating at Sirius' hands, reeled and went down again. This time, he seemed to decide that the infirmary was a far safer place for him, and, after he staggered to his feet, he left.  
  
"Go, Lily!" James cheered. "You go girl!!"  
  
"Yeah, you the man," Sirius agreed. At my stern look he amended, "You the girl, then. Sheesh."  
  
"Hey guys, looks like we got ourselves a new Marauder," Remus said with a smile.   
  
"Yeah, Tiger Lily here is the perfect Marauder!" Sirius and James chorused. I snorted.  
  
"Ha. Me, be a Marauder? I'm a prefect, Remus."  
  
"So's James."  
  
"That's different, and you know it." I grinned micheviously. "I'm a way better prankster than he is. He's never crashed one of my mother's parties."  
  
"God help us all," Dumbledore said, his blue eyes twinkling, and that seemed to make it unanimous.   
  
I looked over at Remus, and the look in his eyes made it all worthwhile. I'd undoubtedly get in trouble with both my former friends and the teachers for punching Snape, and I'd have a hard time with the Slytherins for the same incident. But with James, Sirius, and of course Remus, behind me all the way, there was nothing I couldn't handle. And after that, think of all the pranks we could pull.  
  
The possibilities were endless. Just the way I liked them.  
  



End file.
